Entrepreneurial profile in backward areas: first results from field research

Abstract (pubblicato nel volume a stampa, pp.161-162). In the past two decades policy measures adopted in some backward areas were and still are mainly focused on providing support to the firms, rather than improving the economic environment for well-established enterprises and contrasting the factors which generate high firms death rate. In particular, they are aimed at promoting entrepreneurship mainly through quite undifferentiated incentives and supports for business start-up. The rationale underlying such a policy is the positive and strong relationship between measures to stimulate entrepreneurship, small business in general and economic performance in terms of employment creation, growth, firm survival, innovation and technological change, productivity and exports proven to be tight in many observed circumstances since the end of the 1970s. In Southern Italy, however, in the last years the many and different measures supporting entrepreneurship seem to have achieved poor results in terms of stable enrichment of the productive context. While the firms turnover has increased, it is meaningful that the annual number of firms which go bankrupt is not only high, but is also growing; local firms average size, already small, is decreasing too; the percentage of internationalised enterprises remains lower than other western countries. Moreover, the priority given by policy measures to the enterprises which guarantee a high rate of employment makes the situation even worst by favouring oversized plants and over-capitalization. Moreover, firms tend to perform in the so-called traditional sectors which are more exposed to international competition and are poorly innovative. In general, therefore, supported enterprises don't assure higher survival rates than the non supported firms. With regard to these weak results, IRAT-CNR has planned the SVIMPCAM Project - 161 Entrepreneurship development in the Campania Region - financed by Regione Campania, in order to identify some elements useful for improving the efficacy and effectiveness of the policies supporting entrepreneurship based on firm selection criteria. Following recent small business literature, the basic assumptions of the Project are that: entrepreneurship is a fundamental renewable resource for local economic development; the entrepreneurial process is the result of a complex interaction between individuals, social and environmental factors, but neither the personality of the entrepreneur, nor the structural characteristics of the environment can determine by themselves firms performance; the diffusion of small business owners or self-employers isn't usually the best choice for the economic development. Based on these hypotheses, this paper describes the first results of an empirical research on a sample of 101 local manufacturing established firms. Sample firms are based in Regione Campania and operate into traditional sectors, which are the most representative of the local economy. The survey, mostly focused on the level of the individual characteristics of entrepreneurs, aims to define the main profile of local entrepreneurs, verifying if they match those elements (experiences, personal traits, competencies, skills, motivations, external environment perception, shareholders presence, family support, external consultancies etc) described by the literature as typical of "true" entrepreneurs. The first results of the empirical analysis underline that familiar experiences are more influent than subjective experiences and that entrepreneurs undervalue the importance to increase their knowledge and competencies. Moreover, it emerges that policy measures neither provide an organic framework to sustain small firms nor seem able to create new entrepreneurship by individuals without direct or indirect previous entrepreneurial experiences. Therefore, since many backward areas need to be supported into the creation of high-tech firms performing in growing market segments and leaded by dynamic and open-minded entrepreneurs, these results can be utilized to realize an effective policy framework addressed to develop an ex-ante screening of potential entrepreneurs, selecting and making eligible for facilities and support only those with a higher level of attitudes, competence and learning ability. Anyway, these assumptions raise new specific research questions about methods and tools to reach this objective.